Genius Archer's Streaming

“Director, a fax arrived.”

Song Ha-Na received a fax that day.

“Really. These guys…”

The medical community in the U.S. was surprisingly conservative and still preferred fax communication, especially when the data was so important.

Song Ha-Na personally found it embarrassing to use such means of communication in this day and age.

She knew what the fax was likely about and skillfully flipped through the paper. Then, her eyes fixated on the document for a while and thoroughly scanned through it.

She nervously bit her nails. This habit always cout when she saw something interesting, felt scared, or whenever her heart raced.

“This…”

She entered her research lab and scattered the documents on her desk. The first page of those documents featured two faces.

***

A fairy suddenly popped out.

“Hello there! Wandering mercenary!”

She was a very small fairy about the size of Almond's fist.

“I’ve been assigned to guide the wandering mercenary…”

She stopped speaking as a message appeared.

Almond hadn't even named himself yet and hadn’t thought about naming a fairy beforehand, but he quickly cup with a name.

“Peanut.”

Unfortunately, the nPeanut wasn’t available. It would have been fitting.

Almond found it hard to give up on Peanut and tried similar variations.

“Peanut Butter.”

“Peanut Jam.”

“Peanut Allergy.”

“Nut.”

Almond thought of something after pondering for a while.Tʜe sourcᴇ of thɪs content ɪs NoᴠᴇFɪre.nᴇt

He said it slowly as if savoring the word, “Peeeanuuuut.”

It was a bit of a workaround to the name.

“Wow. It worked!”

Almond clenched his fist in triumph.

The previously frozen fairy resumed her cheerful demeanor and introduced herself.

“… I’m the fairy guide Peeeeanuuut! Could you please tellyour name!?”

“Almond.”

As expected, the nAlmond was already taken. Simple objects or food names were often hard to secure as nicknames.

The viewers offered various ideas, but Sang-Hyeon didn’t need any help.

“Aaalmond.”

“… Aaalmond! Nice to meet you!”

The fairy fluttered her wings and landed on Almond’s shoulder.

“Throughout many battles, there have always been heroes.”

“They dominated the battlefield with just their presence, leading their comrades to victory. Even those heroes were once wandering mercenaries like you.”

Several war scenes featuring heroic acts and the fierce survival of soldiers passed by as she stretched her hand forward.

“Heroes aren’t born from the heavens. They are the ones who reach for the skies themselves.”

She fluttered around sprinkling golden dust.

“May the mercenary I serve, Aaalmond, one day beca hero who dominates the battlefield!”

As the fairy waved her tiny wand, the golden dust she sprinkled gathered together. A swirling golden vortex formed and turned into an oval door.

Everyone instinctively knew that stepping through it would lead to another world. It signified the start of the game.

“Ambition and vigor fill wandering mercenaries. All they need is an opportunity! Go forth and roam the battlefield you desire!”

Almond stepped into the portal and was swiftly sucked in. The scenery changed instantly.

***

A large beer mug slammed onto the rough wooden table.

A burly man with a scruffy beard savored the beer and exclaimed, “Damn mercenary life! Who’s gonna handle my funeral if I suddenly kick the bucket!?”

Almond looked around upon hearing the voice. He was in a tavern and his gaze dropped to check his attire.

He wore scruffy leather armor and possessed a short dagger. That was all he had.

“Hey, you there! Judging by your attire, you seem like a wandering mercenary!” someone called out to Almond.

It wasn’t the man who had been drinking and lamenting earlier. This one looked more genteel and didn’t quite fit in with the surroundings. There was always one who used their brains even among a band of brigands. It seemed like he played that role.

He tapped on a large blackboard.

“Put your nhere! That way, you might get something at least!”

On the board was a waiting list that changed in real tas if by magic. Apparently, it was a list of users who had queued for deployment. Names were categorized into E, D, and C ranks. These seemed to be the rank of the missions they were assigned.

“What’s your name?”

“Aaalmond.”

“Aaalmond! Got it!”

He wrote Almond’s non the E rank section of the board. That was when it happened.

Someone pushed Almond from behind and entered the scene. Three men with large builds and fierce looks appeared.

“What’s this? A newbie? You think you can survive as a mercenary? Go back and drink your mother's milk.”

Laughter erupted. This typical provocation was followed by an all-too-common laughter.

The two others with him chimed in.

“You gotta greet the C rank guys first, newbie~.”

“Not all mercenaries are the same, kid~”

Despite their attempts to look threatening, neither Almond nor the viewers found them intimidating.

However, the other NPCs in the tavern seemed threatened.

“It’s the Troll Tin C rank…!”

“Why are they here…?”

“There’s trouble.”

Almond asked the viewers, “Is C rank good?”

By the sound of it, C rank didn’t seem very good. It was better than E or D, but C wasn’t great in terms of overall ranks.

“Oh… thanks for the explanation, Civil… Master.”

“So C rank is the highest here in a tavern for wandering mercenaries?”

Almond gestured toward the tavern's sign.

It specifically mentioned wandering mercenaries to signify this was their exclusive space.

“So the toughest guys here are picking a fight…”

The highest ranked mercenaries were picking a fight with him.

Three of the highest ranked mercenaries provoked him first.

“Hey, lackey. What are you daydreaming about? Can’t you hear me? Kid~”

“Did you pee your pants? Kid~”

They approached while spewing out scripted threats.

“Just leave the armor you have and get lost. That’s how rookies respect their seniors.”

Despite the clearly dishonorable and absurd demand, none of the other men in the tavern intervened. In fact, they egged them on.

“Yeah! Rob him!”

“That’s the Troll Tfor you!”

“Give him a smack!”

— So these are the medieval alpha males?

— Crazy LOL

— They’re like people who throw feces out the window…

Almond quickly grasped the atmosphere.

The fairy Peeeeanuuut landed on his shoulder to clarify any possible misunderstanding.

Only Almond could hear the fairy’s voice.

And so on.

Almond casually nodded and drew his dagger. By then, he was no longer listening to anyone else.

His shallow breath conveyed a mix of slight tension and deep focus. His gaze seemed to bore into the forehead of his opponent.

The leader Troll in the middle with his hand on his crude sword spoke, “Oh? Drawing a knife? If you’ve drawn it, you better be ready to—”

The dagger lodged itself in the forehead of the middle Troll.

“!?”

The large figure collapsed lifelessly and a moment of stunned silence followed.

Only then did the sounds reach him again and he saw the chat.

Almond realized he made a mistake. It was just a duel, but he had killed the Troll because he was too immersed.

He wondered what to do next and awkwardly scanned the tavern. Was everyone going to attack him now? He was mistaken.

Several men began to raise their arms. Soon, all the patrons waved their arms in the air, shouting at the top of their lungs.

The vibrations were so intense that the ground seemed to tremble.

“Wow! Did he just kill him?!”

“He literally killed him! Bro!”

“I didn’t even see the throw!!”

The man in charge of writing names on the board pushed through the crowd and extended his hand.

“Aaalmond! You! Among all the newbies I’ve seen, you’re the best! Start from here!”

He pointed emphatically to the C rank section.